Lore:Vaermina

Vaermina (also spelled Vaernima), also known as Vaernima the Gifter[1] and Weaver of the Panoply[2] is a Daedric Prince whose sphere is the realm of dreams and nightmares, and from whose realm evil omens issue forth.[3] She is seen as one of the "demonic" Daedra, and some have also claimed her sphere ties somehow to torture.[4] Vaermina's plane of Oblivion is Quagmire, which is described as a nightmare realm, where every few minutes reality shifts and becomes ever more horrifying. "A dark castle one moment, a den of ravening beasts the next, a moonlit swamp, a coffin where he was buried alive."[5]

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The Skull of Corruption is Vaermina's signature artifact. It is an incredible staff that creates a duplicate, or "clone", of whomever it is cast upon. This clone then attacks the original at the behest of the caster. Legends say that the staff a mind of its own, and can feed on the memories of those around it.

There is a story about a Thieves Guild Master and the Skull that is probably fiction, but highly amusing. The Master used the Skull on her enemy, creating a clone of him to fight. After defeating the original, the clever duplicate snatched the Skull from the Master and used it on her. Although the cloned enemy could not directly attack the Master, it could use the Skull to create a duplicate Master. The two clones jointly ruled the Thieves Guild for years.

The Orb of Vaermina, named for its patron, was an orb apparently used for scrying. At some point before 3E 433, it was in the possession of a wizard named Arkved, by whom it was apparently "snatched from the dreams of [Vaermina's] followers".. It was recovered by Vaermina's champion, who received the Skull of Corruption in return.

Quagmire, or the Dreamstride, is a realm of Oblivion, created and ruled over by the Daedric Prince of Nightmare, Vaermina. It is a realm of horrors, where reality shifts upon itself in seemingly impossible ways. Every few minutes, lightning flashes and the realm morphs into a terrifying scene, each one more frightening than the last.

It is the realm most often visited by mortals. From her citadel in the center of the realm, Vaermina reaches out into Mundus and collects the memories of sleeping mortals, leaving nothing but visions of horror and despair. These experiences, known as nightmares, involve the mind of a mortal traveling to Quagmire. Through magical teleportation, it is possible for a mortal to enter Quagmire while awake, as was done by the mage Morian Zenas.